TeliaSonera employees to strike in response to job cuts in Finland customer center

TeliaSonera's (Stockholm: TLSN.ST) employees in Finland aren't happy about the planned job cuts in its customer service unit so they are going to start a five-day strike today.

At issue is a plan by Europe's fifth largest service provider to lay off up to 200 employees at its customer service broadband business center in Finland.

According to the union Ammattiliitto Pro about 3,100 employees are set to strike in protest because they say TeliaSonera had not considered their concerns about the job cuts and plans to transfer jobs to subcontractors.

Although TeliaSonera spokesman Ahti Martikainen could not predict how many workers would be striking, he acknowledged that strike could cause longer call holding times for customers calling into the Finland center.